Tammy Gunter fraudulently claimed more than £70,000 in tax credits to fund boob job and holidays

Greedy Gunter said she was single, made fake claims for loans and forged a letter from HMRC, Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard yesterday.

Husband Hart, 45, was caged for six months for “encouraging” and assisting” his wife.

Prosecutor Nuhu Gobir told the court:“Tammy Gunter made a claim that she was a single person working at least 16 hours per week. She stated that she had two children and no other income. The defendant dishonestly maintained she was single.

She received £21,396 as part of her studies for the criminology degree, which the court heard she was entitled to.

On December 16, 2014, Gunter applied for funding from NHS Wales Students Awards Services for the year 2014-15 in relation to a full-time three-year adult nursing degree at the University of South Wales, where she gave her marital status as separated.

Mr Gobir said: “She made no reference to her previous funding. This defendant was assessed as an independent student.”

On September 23, 2014, Gunter applied for bursary funding for the nursing degree as an independent student.

Mr Gobir added: “She stated that she was separated and was a single parent with two dependent children.”

In April, 2014, she submitted documents to Caerphilly council, with a letter purporting to be on HMRC-headed paper which claimed to indicate that she had notified HMRC that she had married and Hart had moved into the same property.

The letter raised suspicion with a member of staff who had concerns about its authenticity due to matters including spelling errors and it being inconsistent with other HMRC letters.

Byron Broadstock, defending Gunter, said his client’s marriage had been a tumultuous one which has seen the couple live in separate addresses at some stages.

He said: “Many of the purchases that have been described as extravagant, they are out of the ordinary. They were often gestures in reconciliation.”

He added how Gunter had undergone cosmetic surgery in eastern Europe after suffering from low self-esteem. “It wasn’t simply for purely cosmetic reasons”, he said. “It was psychological reasons.”

He said “much of the purchases” that were made were done so using money Gunter received after the death of her father in 2015.

Jeffrey Jones, defending Hart, said: “He allowed himself to be used in that by making one gesture, in relation to one matter – his own address.”

A hearing is scheduled to take place on February 28 next year regarding a Proceeds of Crime Act application.

Sentencing, Judge Peter Heywood said: “That fraud occurred over a significant period of time. There was a degree of sophistication and planning involved.”